S10 - BIOS Setup Password Bug

[biowizard]

Here's what looks like a bug in the S10 BIOS: after installing extra RAM into my new S10, I was initially unable to get BIOS to accept the memory amount, so I got POST error 164 each time I rebooted. My fix was to clear CMOS (by moving a system board jumper, power cycling, and then setting it back), and the memory mismatch error was fixed.

But this process also cleared my BIOS passwords, so I decided to set them up again. While I can set a USER password, every time I try to set a SETUP (ADMIN) password, I now get another POST error on rebooting.

It seems that if I have a SETUP password, BIOS cannot get through the POST without reporting an error if something has changed since last time - in this case, this is simply THE PASSWORD ITSELF!

If I clear the SETUP password, POST works fine. I now wonder if this same thing was the reason my S10 did not automatically accept the additional RAM, despite my going into SETUP to "approve it"?

So to my suspected bug: On the S10 (model 6423), it seems that setting a SETUP/ADMIN BIOS password causes certain settings changes (including memory upgrades and even the password itself!) to fail to register properly, resulting in POST errors.

Has anyone else experienced problems like this? How can/should I report this to Lenovo?

Brian

[massagno]

same problem here, boot error after bios admin password is set.

any news?

[erik Community SuperMod]

add the D10 to the list.   this morning mine threw a memory size error at POST.

i pulled all eight 2GB micron modules and swapped in the original two 512MB hynix modules and received the same error.   i then thought it might somehow be related to the video card as i had switched back-and-forth between the FX 3700 and FX 370 last night to run cinebench tests.   but, changing video cards didn't help.   i came here to find your memory error thread and coincidentally found this thread at the top.   i cleared the supervisor password and now the D10 boots without any POST errors.

i'm now going to reinstall the memory and video card, set the admin password again, and see if it will boot cold without throwing a POST error.   what's odd is that it has had a supervisor password set for just over four days without issue.


update: i removed the password, reinstalled all hardware, set the supervisor password again, and successfully booted into server 2008 without any POST issues.   next i'm going to try disconnecting power and draining the power supply to see what happens with a completely cold boot.

update #2: a cold boot works with the password set.   in fact, i haven't seen any errors since the password was reapplied after reinstalling all of my hardware.   if there is a glitch in the BIOS, i'd guess that it has something to do with permissions set on hardware installation.   that's just a guess though.


per mark's request below my system is a D10 6427-CTO with BIOS 2XKT20A.


Message Edited by erik on 06-18-2008 01:42 PM

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

All,

Thanks for sharing this.    Will check into this...

Could you update your posts to include your system model type and what BIOS version you have?

UPDATE:

This symptom has been noted and is addressed in updated version of BIOS due out later this month.  Will update this post with links to the BIOS once posted to the web.  TVSU should make the updates available as well.

Additionally, when updating memory, this TIP may be helpful.

Mark

Message Edited by Mark_Lenovo on 06-18-2008 09:21 AM

[erik Community SuperMod]

mark, thanks for the update!


Message Edited by erik on 06-18-2008 09:05 PM

[massagno]

S10 - 6483-19G

eeprom 2WKT27A

BIOS 01/31/08

Message Edited by massagno on 06-19-2008 09:06 AM

[erik Community SuperMod]

i just installed two new hard drives for the secondary SAS array and the memory error came back.

the workaround is to remove the supervisor password, boot the machine with the new hardware, then reapply the supervisor password on the next boot.   the bug seems to have something to do with permissions on new hardware being added to the system.

[biowizard]

My S10 is model 6423-27G, sourced in the UK. I now have 6Gb of RAM (the original two 1GB modules in their original sockets, and two new 2Gb modules in the other two sockets, all original Lenovo parts). My BIOS date is 01/31/08.

Please let me know when the updated BIOS is available so I can reset my admin password!

Thanks,

Brian

[erik Community SuperMod]

---

biowizard wrote:

Please let me know when the updated BIOS is available so I can reset my admin password!

---

brian, can you set the supervisor password now or do you still get the 0164 error?

i've had mine set for a few days without issue now that i'm done swapping hardware around.   changing hardware while the password is set is what causes the error on my D10.   i'm curious if the S10 is the same way.

[biowizard]

Hi Erik,

I still get 0164 errors (and similar) when my setup password is set to anything other than blank. I'm waiting to see if this will be fixed with the new BIOS that Mark said was being prepared for release.

Luckily, my S10 is at home (so is physically secure), but I don't like the idea of not being able to protect my BIOS settings, and in a Lab/Office environment, this would be an unacceptable security risk!

Brian